Minimum dissipative relaxed states in toroidal plasmas

Relaxation of toroidal discharges is described by the principle of minimum energy dissipation together with the constraint of conserved global helicity. The resulting Euler-Lagrange equation is solved in toroidal coordinates for an axisymmetric torus by expressing the solutions in terms of Chandrasekhar-Kendall (C-K) eigenfunctions analytically continued in the complex domain. The C-K eigenfunctions are obtained as hypergeometric functions that are solutions of scalar Helmholtz equation in toroidal coordinates in the large aspect-ratio approximation. Equilibria are constructed by assuming the current to vanish at the edge of plasma. For the m=0, n=0 (m and n are the poloidal and toroidal mode numbers respectively) relaxed states, the magnetic field, current, q (safety factor) and pressure profiles are calculated for a given value of aspect-ratio of the torus and for different values of the eigenvalue λ _{r 0}. The new feature of the present model is that solutions allow for both tokamak as well as RFP-like behaviour with increase in the values of λ _{r 0}, which is related directly to volt-sec in the experiment.     

An analytic solution of the stationary MHD equations for a rotating toroidal plasma

An analytic MHD equilibrium for an axisymmetric torodial plasma with toroidal and toroidal flow is obtained in the limit of small ratio of poloidal to toroidal magnetic field and small beta. For a critical value of the poloidal velocity a limitation of the domain of validity of the solution appears.     

A pθ, pz dependent equilibrium solution for the cylindrical pinch

We have obtained a solution of the cylindrical pinch equilibrium equation with both a poloidal and a longitudinal current. The β poloidal is typically between 0.1 and 0.5. The ratio of poloidal and toroidal currents is estimated.     

Numerical study of homogeneous dynamo based on experimental von Kármán type flows

A numerical study of the magnetic induction equation has been performed on von Kármán type flows. These flows are generated by two co-axial counter-rotating propellers in cylindrical containers. Such devices are currently used in the von Kármán sodium (VKS) experiment designed to study dynamo action in an unconstrained flow. The mean velocity fields have been measured for different configurations and are introduced in a periodic cylindrical kinematic dynamo code. Depending on the driving configuration, on the poloidal to toroidal flow ratio and on the conductivity of boundaries, some flows are observed to sustain growing magnetic fields for magnetic Reynolds numbers accessible to a sodium experiment. The response of the flow to an external magnetic field has also been studied: The results are in excellent agreement with experimental results in the single propeller case but can differ in the two propellers case.     

Toroidicity and shape dependence of peeling mode growth rates in axisymmetric toroidal plasmas

The growth rate of the peeling mode instability with large toroidal mode number is calculated for general axisymmetric toroidal plasmas, including tokamaks and the spherical torus(ST) equilibia by using formalism presented by Connor et al.Analytic equilibia with non-zero edge current density and quasi-uniform current profiles are assumed. It is found that in sharp D-shape tokamak plasma, the derivative of the safety factor with respect to the poloidal flux becomes very large,making the perturbed poloidal motion very large, in turn making a significant reduction of the growth rate of the peeling mode, similar to the X-point effect in diverted plasma. The large aspect ratio effect is also studied, which reduces the growth rate further.     

一种新的阶跃折射率光纤本征函数表达形式

为了阐明阶跃折射率光纤的模式特性,根据电磁波辐射的能量守恒定律和经过狄拉克函数奇异性修正的亥姆霍兹方程,通过数学推导和证明得出:柱面径向行波场的本征函数是经过狄拉克函数修正的整数阶汉克尔函数,阶跃折射率光纤模式场的本征函数是零、一阶贝塞尔函数经过狄拉克函数修正的零、一阶诺埃曼函数和虚参量汉克尔函数.该结论揭示了光纤芯层和包层模式场分别是径向驻波场和倏逝波场的本质,并基此推导出新的光纤模式特征方程,模式存在条件,模式数目和符合光纤实际的基模归一化截止频率的理论值.     

Nonparaxial elegant Laguerre-Gaussian beams

Closed-form nonparaxial expressions for optical beams are useful to calculate the fields produced by tightly focused laser beams. Such expressions for elegant Laguerre-Gaussian (eLG) beams that are exact solutions of the Helmholtz equation are introduced. These solutions are expressed as linear combinations of a finite number of analytic functions that involve spherical Bessel functions and associated Legendre functions of complex arguments. In the paraxial limit, the expressions proposed have the property to reduce to the well-known eLG beams.     

相对论性电子束的类Tokamak平衡

本文对具有双δ函数速度分布的相对论性电子束,考察了其环形平衡性质。通过对反环径比展开,得到了关于磁通函数及电势的一级近似解析解。还讨论了电子漂移轨道的近似描述。 关键词：     

Small-slope expansion for electromagnetic-wave diffraction on a rough surface

The diffraction and absorption of the plane electromagnetic wave on a rough surface is considered to find the scattering and emissivity of the surface. For this purpose a system of integral equations for unknown surface fields is derived from Green's formula for the Helmholtz equation. The small-slope approach is used to find a solution, i.e. the solution is determined from an expansion over the roughness spectrum that, in the limit of the large-scale roughness, turns out to be the expansion over the slope spectrum.     

A class of exact solutions to the force-free,axisymetric, stationary magnetosphere of a Kerr black hole

We analyze the constraint equation giving allowed solutions describing fields and currents in a force-free magnetosphere around a rotating black hole. Utilizing the divergence properties of the energy and angular-momentum fluxes, for physically allowed solutions with nonzero energy and angular momentum extraction, we conclude that poloidal surfaces are independent of the radial coordinate for large values of r. Imposing this requirement and the Znajek regularity condition, we explicitly derive all possible exact solutions admitted by the constraint equation for r independent poloidal surfaces which are given in terms of the electromagnetic angular velocity function , where a is the angular momentum per unit mass of the black hole. Further, we show that for the class of solutions we have developed there is no electromagnetic extraction of energy. G. M. acknowledges funding through a Troy University sabbatical. The work of C. D. D. is supported by the Office of Naval Research. This research was also supported through NASA GLAST Science Investigation No. DPR-S-1563-Y.     

双包层椭圆光波导解析解

解析求解了双包层椭圆光纤中的波动方程，得到了模式精确解有模式特征方程。对基模的特征方程进行了数值计算，给出了不同椭圆比下的归一化双折射和模间色散随归一化频率的变化关系曲线，并与高斯近似解的结果进行了比较。     

Magnetized neutron-star mergers and gravitational-wave signals

We investigate the influence of magnetic fields upon the dynamics of, and resulting gravitational waves from, a binary neutron-star merger in full general relativity coupled to ideal magnetohydrodynamics. We consider two merger scenarios: one where the stars have aligned poloidal magnetic fields and one without. Both mergers result in a strongly differentially rotating object. In comparison to the nonmagnetized scenario, the aligned magnetic fields delay the full merger of the stars. During and after merger we observe phenomena driven by the magnetic field, including Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in shear layers, winding of the field lines, and transition from poloidal to toroidal magnetic fields. These effects not only mediate the production of electromagnetic radiation, but also can have a strong influence on the gravitational waves. Thus, there are promising prospects for studying such systems with both types of waves.     

Nonparaxial TM and TE beams in free space

Expressions for the fields of TM and TE laser beams in free space that are rigorous solutions to Maxwell's equations are given in a closed form. The electric and the magnetic fields are both expressed in terms of nonparaxial elegant Laguerre-Gaussian beams that are exact solutions of the Helmholtz equation. These solutions involve well-known functions, such as spherical Bessel and associated Legendre functions. Radially and azimuthally polarized beams of arbitrary order are considered, and the lowest-order radially polarized beam (TM(01) beam) is investigated in detail.     

Small-slope expansion for electromagnetic-wave diffraction on a rough surface

Abstract

The diffraction and absorption of the plane electromagnetic wave on a rough surface is considered to find the scattering and emissivity of the surface. For this purpose a system of integral equations for unknown surface fields is derived from Green's formula for the Helmholtz equation. The small-slope approach is used to find a solution, i.e. the solution is determined from an expansion over the roughness spectrum that, in the limit of the large-scale roughness, turns out to be the expansion over the slope spectrum.     

Poloidal–toroidal decomposition in a finite cylinder. I: Influence matrices for the magnetohydrodynamic equations

The Navier–Stokes equations and magnetohydrodynamics equations are written in terms of poloidal and toroidal potentials in a finite cylinder. This formulation insures that the velocity and magnetic fields are divergence-free by construction, but leads to systems of partial differential equations of higher order, whose boundary conditions are coupled. The influence matrix technique is used to transform these systems into decoupled parabolic and elliptic problems. The magnetic field in the induction equation is matched to that in an exterior vacuum by means of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann mapping, thus eliminating the need to discretize the exterior. The influence matrix is scaled in order to attain an acceptable condition number.     

Self-reversal phenomena of toroidal current by reversing the external toroidal field in helicity-driven toroidal plasmas

In order to understand self-organization in helicity-driven systems, we have investigated the dynamics of low-aspect-ratio toroidal plasmas by decreasing the external toroidal field and reversing its sign in time. Consequently, we have discovered that the helicity-driven toroidal plasma relaxes towards the flipped state. Surprisingly, it has been observed that not only toroidal flux but also poloidal flux reverses sign spontaneously during the relaxation process. The self-reversal of the magnetic fields is attributed to the nonlinear growth of the n=1 kink instability of the central open flux.     

Poloidal–toroidal decomposition in a finite cylinder. I: Influence matrices for the magnetohydrodynamic equations

The Navier–Stokes equations and magnetohydrodynamics equations are written in terms of poloidal and toroidal potentials in a finite cylinder. This formulation insures that the velocity and magnetic fields are divergence-free by construction, but leads to systems of partial differential equations of higher order, whose boundary conditions are coupled. The influence matrix technique is used to transform these systems into decoupled parabolic and elliptic problems. The magnetic field in the induction equation is matched to that in an exterior vacuum by means of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann mapping, thus eliminating the need to discretize the exterior. The influence matrix is scaled in order to attain an acceptable condition number.     

Measurement of peeling mode edge current profile dynamics

Peeling modes, an instability mechanism underlying deleterious edge localized mode (ELM) activity in fusion-grade plasmas, are observed at the edge of limited plasmas in a low aspect ratio tokamak under conditions of high edge current density (J(edge) ～ 0.1 MA/m2) and low magnetic field (B ～ 0.1 T). They generate edge-localized, electromagnetic activity with low toroidal mode numbers n≤3 and amplitudes that scale strongly with measured J(edge)/B instability drive, consistent with theory. ELM-like field-aligned, current-carrying filaments form from an initial current-hole J(edge) perturbation that detach and propagate outward.     

On Virtual Phonons,Photons, and Electrons

A macroscopic realization of the peculiar virtual particles is presented. The classical Helmholtz and the Schrödinger equations are differential equations of the same mathematical structure. The solutions with an imaginary wave number are called evanescent modes in the case of elastic and electromagnetic fields. In the case of non-relativistic quantum mechanical fields they are called tunneling solutions. The imaginary wave numbers point to strange consequences: The waves are non-local, they are not observable, and they are described as virtual particles. During the last two decades QED calculations of the solutions with an imaginary wave number have been experimentally confirmed for phonons, photons, and electrons. The experimental proofs of the predictions of non-relativistic quantum mechanics and the Wigner phase time approach for the elastic, electromagnetic and Schrödinger fields will be presented in this article. The results are zero time in the barrier and an interaction time (i.e. a phase shift) at the barrier interfaces. The measured tunneling time scales approximately inversely with the particle energy. Actually, the tunneling time is given only by the barrier boundary interaction time, as zero time is spent inside a barrier.